In which we talking about things happening, and how there just seems to be more and more of them. And also we cover topics like the stress of putting yourself out there when it’s out of your comfort zone, working on Christmas Products, and an exciting place you can come and see me IN THE FLESH this week. How exciting!

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So are we talking about the elephant in the room?

I mean, we will, it’s unavoidable right? But before we get into all that, lets just take a minute to talk about some other things that don’t involve the world not looking how we maybe thought it would, and talk about some things a little closer to home that also involve us being out of our comfort zones.

I wish I could take credit for that through-line there, but truth be told it only occurred to me now, as I’m writing. God I’m good at this.

Anyway, comfort zones. We all have them, some of us are quite happy with them. I’d go so far as to say that most of us are quite happy with them. We’re probably… comfortable with them, but sometimes things happen that mean we have to lean a little bit beyond what we’re comfortable with.

There’s a personal development school of thought that maintains that we should be perpetually leaning just beyond our comfort zone. Every time we become comfortable with something, we should always push ourselves just a tiny bit further than where we are now. These psychos maintain that we can only really learn when we’re pushing ourselves beyond our comfort zone.

I’m always immediately sceptical of any personal development hokum that talks about constant improvement. It’s just not possible.

In this context, just imagine it. By constantly pushing yourself out of your comfort zone, it isn’t long before everyone is sky-diving just to feel something, because they’ve exhausted themselves from the usual emotions that people use to feel something. Before long you’re hunting people for sport.

I’m kidding, obviously, but sometimes there’s nothing wrong with just relaxing just exactly where you need to be, and not stressing yourself out with growing.

It doesn’t get your name out there, and doesn’t get any eyes on your work when you’re trying to sell things to make money however. And I’ve grown accustomed to going along and sitting in my studio and making my cool things and not engaging with the world, and now it’s time for me to start hunting people.

Again, I’m kidding, but I am pushing myself out of my comfort zone by doing some in person events and fairs in the next couple of weeks, and I’m stressing out about it something terrible. Having to be friendly, charming and engaging to people I don’t know? Horrendous.

It’s obviously not that bad, and I’m actually perversely looking forward to it. It’s going to be a lot of fun, if nothing else, and because I love to panic, I’m pretty much prepared. I have a few more things that need to get delivered this week, and then it’s down to getting myself out there to see people!

So is it all stuff for Christmas?

I won’t lie to you, it’s mostly stuff for Christmas, and we’ve already had a look through all the cool products that I’m bringing with me this year. It turns out that preparing for Markets is almost a full time job in and of itself, and is also pretty expensive if you want to do it right. And you know me, I’m all about doing it right.

It’s not only stuff for Christmas however, because I’ve also got Dundee Zine Fest coming up, and I’m probably even more excited about that than anything.

I love making zines, with my whole heart. It’s a way of bringing your thoughts, words and art into the world (or of your friends and people you’re making your zine with) and the barrier to entry is literally as low as it can be. As long as you have a pen and a single piece of paper, you can make a zine. It’s amazing, equitable (although not perfect) and by the work of organisations and events like Dundee Zine Fest, zine makers can meet up and show off their works. It’s great.

Dundee Zine Fest is on Saturday the 16th of November at Art Angel, 45 North Lindsay Street, Dundee. I hope to see you there. I know I’ve got some cool things that I’ll be showing off, and if I’ve got cool things to show off, you can believe there’ll be people there who have even cooler things to show you. I hope we’ll see you there!

We can’t avoid it any more, can we?

No, I don’t think we can. Hasn’t this week been fun? Thankfully, while the outcome of the US Election impacts everyone in one way or another, I should be protected by the worst direct excesses of another Trump Presidency by nature of being in Scotland, but even then we don’t have Janey Godley here this time to save us all.

Despite being insulated, it hasn’t stopped the deluge of cool people I follow on Social Media being in direct line to a Trumping, and that’s been hard to watch. I remember how I felt after the Scottish Independence Referendum in 2014 and I couldn’t believe that the independence vote hadn’t made it, but at least after that result people were at least safe. That might not be true in America when power changes hands.

I’ve been thrown, as I always am, into thinking about what I can do to help, and while my impact is minimal, I’ll be trying my best to try to mitigate the lurch to an authoritarian fascist right across the west as much as I can.

I don’t have any concrete plans as of yet, but if there’s anything you think I should be aware of, or anything you’d like to see me getting involved in I’d love to hear from you. Let me know in the comments below.

At least things haven’t been as bad in the UK?

Are you sure about that..?

This week in the UK we’ve been reeling with the revelations of the joint reporting of Dispatches and The Sunday Times into the millions of pounds that Charles and William make off the back of taxpayers.

The King, The Prince & Their Secret Millions aired last week and documented the most egregious financially predatory behaviour that their Private Estates, the Duchies of Lancaster and Cornwall, indulge in, all with the aim of rinsing taxpayers, public institutions, the government, and in some cases, tenants of private let buildings they own.

This is separate from the money they get from us just for breathing, The Sovereign Grant, and is exempt from Capital Gains Tax or Corporation Tax, just because of who they are. Meanwhile we have elderly people in this country who are not going to be able to afford to heat their homes this winter.

It made for hard watching, and I’ve wanted to abolish the Royal Family for years now. It remains to be seen whether the Royal Family will comment (of course they wont), The Labour Government of the UK will act to try to tax this income (of course they wont), or the British Public will eventually wake up and realise that we’d literally be better off as a country without them (of course they wont).

I’d recommend giving the documentary a watch if you can, but if you can’t there’s a not bad BBC recap of the story in an article here.

If that’s not enough for you, I’ve also made a one page zine highlighting what I think are some of the more sickening examples of the behaviour of their Private Estates, and I’m making that free to all my readers below. You can download it, read it, print some copies out and anonymously leave them around your workplace for your Royalist colleagues, the choice really is yours.

So is that all you’ve been watching?

No, my mental state would be even worse if that was all I’d been watching. I have been catching up on Netflix shows that I had started over the last couple of months but had never finished. So far since the last week I’ve managed to finished Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, This is the Zodiac Speaking, Files of the Unexplained, The Manhattan Alien Abduction and ending up with Investigation Alien.

Ignoring the True Crime Murder Porn, because I’m not really a true crime girly deep down, I have been on a real Alien thing recently, which if you know me, is slightly surprising. Maybe even more than slightly. Aliens are my number one fear and normally, I don’t f**k with them.

But despite how afraid they make me, I am drawn to them and want to learn more about them. I find it fascinating that despite how many people seemingly sincerely claim something has happened to them.

It also stars George Knapp, possibly one of the most respected UFO Researchers ever, and shows how he conducts his investigations.

I’m a little bit of a UFO/Conspiracy Buff (I’m massively obsessed, I’m downplaying it a lot here) and there were cases examined in this documentary that I had never heard of before, so I’d give it a go if you’re into that kind of thing.

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Now it’s time for Question of the week, and as much as I’d love to ask whether you’ve seen a UFO or not, we’ll go with something less… Fringe.

If you could make a zine about anything in the world, what would you make a zine about?

As always, sound off in the comments below (and let me know if you’ve ever seen a UFO, please, I’m actually really interested), have a lovely week, look after one another, and I’ll hopefully see you at DZF this weekend!

j